MAYOR TAKES AMERICAN WAYS ABROAD

Dean Geroulis. Special to the TribuneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Park Ridge's list of exports to former Soviet bloc countries now includes politics.

Mayor Ron Wietecha was one of two Americans asked to conduct a series of workshops in the nation of Slovakia on democratic-style government. He was accompanied last month by a staff member for a California congressman.

Wietecha said he learned that municipalities on both sides of the ocean share many problems, but that local politicians there have much to learn.

Wietecha also helped to influence a piece of controversial national legislation in his host country.

The trip was sponsored by the International Republican Institute, a private, non-profit organization. Although it has loose ties to the Republican Party, the IRI's funding comes through various foundations, Wietecha said. His was the third IRI-sponsored trip by an American mayor this year, Wietecha said.

The IRI's goal is to advance democracy worldwide, Wietecha said.

Formerly part of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia gained independence in 1993. However, as in many former Soviet bloc countries, the Communist Party has repackaged itself and is making a comeback among voters, forming a coalition with other political parties to regain power, Wietecha said.

"The emphasis of the IRI program has been refocused to concentrate on Eastern bloc countries where the voters are going back to communism and choosing former communists to lead them," Wietecha said.

These visits are targeted to reach local political organizations, which remain strongly democratic even though some national trends are going in reverse. But while these local leaders may know much about democracy, they know relatively little about politics and remaining in power.

"They were intelligent, well-educated, well-informed people," Wietecha said of the Democratic Union Party, which took the greatest interest in the IRI workshops. "They think of politics and democracy on the high road only. I was there to inform them that this is not an ideal world. When you have differences of opinion and strong passions on an issue, you're going to get some nastiness."

Wietecha conducted eight workshops in two cities and had several informal meetings with political leaders. Topics of his talks included getting elected, building grass-roots political groups like his own Park Ridge Homeowners Party, and building regional coalitions. The participants had a lot to learn about governing, Wietecha said. Approaches taken for granted in this country were alien to a nation that had learned to expect all decisions to float down from the top.

"Our problems of running city government and providing basic services are identical," Wietecha said. "What they have not yet realized is how to use volunteers and involve as many citizens as possible. In the old closed society, you had to have a Communist Party card in order to amount to anything, or to be asked to do something."

Wietecha pointed out that Park Ridge has more than 200 residents volunteering their time on various boards and commissions.

He also talked to them about door-to-door campaigning. Residents there are still wary of that because, in the past, an unexpected knock on the door could have meant the secret police were outside.

Wietecha unwittingly became involved in Slovakian politics when a member of the local parliament asked his advice on a controversial bill to establish Slovak as the official language of the country. It was targeted at Hungarians, who make up a large part of the southern population. The legislation would have imposed harsh fines and offered rewards for reporting offenders.

While he supports an English language bill being considered in the U.S., Wietecha told representatives that he found the Slovak provisions to be onerous. That member of parliament went back and introduced an amendment striking the two provisions. The amendment passed and so did the revised legislation.

Wietecha conceded it was satisfying to have that kind of influence and wished local officials here could have the same impact on state and national issues.